Chapter Ten: The First Jane Austen Dissertation: George Pellew and the Human Telephone

Chapter Ten: The First Jane Austen Dissertation: George Pellew and the Human Telephone

Today's Austen criticism repeats it without blinking an eye: George Pellew was the first student to write a dissertation on Jane Austen at Harvard in 1883. With that achievement, Austen had arrived in the hallowed halls of academe, and Pellew had his little footnote. Case closed.

But what an arrival and what a footnote! Not only does the word "dissertation" not mean what we think it means. Pellew went far beyond our stereotype of an Ivy league-educated Austen scholar. He died young, in tragic, mysterious circumstances. But what's most remarkable is that he's said to have come back from the dead. Pellew's returned-from-the-grave spirit was responsible for one of the most famous cases in paranormal history. He emerged from the pen of the era's most famous automatic writing medium, Leonora Piper. Read more in The Making of Jane Austen.

Is It right for your book club?

Yes, definitely! I'd love to hear from you if you're considering it.

This book works best in clubs familiar with Austen's fiction OR its film adaptations. (You could read or watch Pride and Prejudice and then choose this book.)